Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office
External Affairs
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Contacts:
Al Donner (916) 414-6566
al_donner@fws.gov
Steve Martarano (916) 414-6571
steve_martarano@fws.gov
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced settlement of a suit that challenged its 2005 final decision on proposed critical habitat for the Sonoma County population of the California tiger salamander. In the settlement, the Service agreed to re-propose as critical habitat the same 74,223 acres of the Santa Rosa Plain that it had originally proposed in August 2005 as critical habitat.
The California tiger salamander is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service listed the Sonoma County population as an endangered species under an emergency rule in 2002. The rule became permanent in March 2003. In July 2004, when California tiger salamander populations in Central California were listed as threatened, the status of the Sonoma County population was changed from endangered to threatened. The stated purpose for the change was to allow for more consistent conservation actions across the range of the species.
The Center for Biological Diversity originally filed a complaint in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which challenged the Service’s decision not to designate critical habitat for the California tiger salamander in Sonoma County. On Feb. 3, 2005, the court approved a settlement that set a deadline for final designation of critical habitat for the California tiger salamander in Sonoma County.
The Service’s August 2005 critical habitat proposal was issued to comply with the settlement terms of an earlier lawsuit filed by the Center to force a critical habitat designation.
In December 2005 the Service decided to not designate any critical habitat “based on interim conservation strategies and measures being implemented” by local agencies as well as due to the economic impacts of designating critical habitat. That Service decision was challenged by the Center, which announced in 2007 that it would sue over alleged political interference related to 55 endangered species decisions.
The 74,223 acres on the Santa Rosa Plain generally are bordered on the west by the Laguna de Santa Rosa, on the south by Skillman Road northwest of Petaluma, on the east by the foothills, and on the north by Windsor Creek.
Under terms of this settlement the Service must re-propose critical habitat within 90 days and complete the action by July 1, 2011. The order does not specify how much land must be designated as critical habitat in its final rule.
The final 2005 critical habitat map can be found at: www.fws.gov/sacramento/ea/Documents/SonomaCTS_pCH_map2.pdf
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.
The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations.
The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
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